Claim OwnershipThe J. Sterling Hughes Show
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© 2024 The J. Sterling Hughes Show
Description
This podcast documents and shares the gritty lessons and winning strategies on how to build and scale a family law firm from zero to 25+ lawyers and $15m a year in revenue.
Yes! It’s true--even if you compete directly with us. I’m here to give you my law firm’s secrets, tactics, and strategies.
I want to tell you the candid truth on what worked, what failed, and where we are aiming next.
Here’s why.
My teammates and I envision transforming how family law clients are served.
And we can’t transform the practice of law all by ourselves. We need more lawyers growing their practice, kicking butt / taking names, and winning along with us.
So, follow me and subscribe to "The J. Sterling Hughes Show" Podcast.
My YouTube channel is @JSterlingHughes.
At home, I am Winona’s husband, and four of our six kids still call me “daddy.” ❤️
59 Episodes
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My guest, Mary Sankey, is the leader of our non-attorney sales team at Sterling Lawyers. We explore the genesis and development of our non-attorney sales team.We also discuss:Mary's experience with divorce as a child and how it shaped her empathetic approachHer transition from the coffee industry to leading our sales teamThe importance of non-attorney professionals in a law firmInsights from dozens of workshops and webinarsThe delicate balance between family life and professional respon...
Terminating lawyers on your team is a very difficult process. Yet, it is critically necessary for any healthy law firm to grow and serve clients well.Every firm that is growing will have to terminate a lawyer's employment. At Sterling Lawyers, we have fired lawyers for a range of reasons. This show details our firm's history in this sensitive area, including other attorneys who fired us when they resigned. I discuss:1 - "Why" we have terminated lawyers from our te...
Paid Search is the second most important component of search marketing for any family law firm. The first is map listings -- see earlier podcast on this topic. In this show, my co-founder, Tony Karls, and I discuss our firm's philosophy and strategy to employ paid search in our marketing mix. We cover:1 - Diversifying your marketing tactics2 - Dangers of leaning too heavily on paid search for your firm's visibility3 - How a meticulously structured account is your f...
Gary Miles's journey is one of profound transformation. He battled and overcame the grip of alcohol to build and lead a successful family law firm.In this show, Gary's candid retelling of his challenges and how he prevailed is certainly inspirational. It also serves as a roadmap to family lawyers interested in building their practice and having personal freedom.Additionally, we discussed:1 - Unique emotional complexities of a family law practice2 - Building personal relation...
It's no secret that my Sterling Family Lawyers co-founder, Tony Karls, is the digital marketing mastermind behind our success. In this week's show, Tony and I reveal the precise marketing blueprint that propelled our family law firm from 0 to 25 lawyers and $15million in revenue in less than 10 years. We discuss:1 - Establishing an initial online presence2 - Early decisions that pushed us to the top of local maps3 - Harnessing phone call analytics to fine tune our digital marketing4...
Bo Royal is a former Fortune 500 advertising agency executive turned lawfirm marketing expert. After holding leadership positions at eBay’s marketing solutions division and scaling the online advertising revenues of a variety of well-known brands, such as Calvin Klein, Bo pivoted into the world of legal marketing over five years ago and never looked back. Today, Bo co-owns and operates Pareto Legal, a growth marketing agency positioned to help small and medium-sized law firms add an...
Map listings are the single most important component of search marketing for any family law firm. The maps are Sterling Lawyers' most important lead generation channel. In this episode, my co-founder, Tony Karls, and I discuss the essential elements that have amplified our firm's map visibility. If you want to rank highly in the maps, this is the definitive playbook. -------------------------Follow me on: LinkedIn - YouTube - X - Instagram - TikTok I’m here to...
When I sat down with Jonathan Breeden for this episode, my intention was to get his blueprint on how to create a hyperlocal podcast for family law firms.We certainly covered that topic. But, there turned out to be so much value in hearing his story.Jonathan Breeden is a seasoned family lawyer who takes us behind the scenes of his North Carolina firm's impressive growth. We explored his journey from a solo practitioner to leading a team of seven attorneys across four officesJonathan...
The best law firm lead generation system in the world is useless without a good intake team.One of the performance secrets at Sterling Lawyers has been our intake team. They excel at the critical task of answering the phone and supporting potential clients facing a family legal crisis.In this episode, Tony Karls and I do a deep dive into our family law firm intake strategy and key metrics.-------------------------Follow me on: LinkedIn - YouTube - X - Instagram - TikTok I’m here to shar...
Kyle Harbaugh is the Founder and President of Chief Go Officers. He is a holistic business strategist for law firms and his focus is on helping firms grow and operate better by providing Done-For-You projects and fractional services. In this episode, we have a full conversation about the challenges that firms encounter to move from the founder(s) doing all the legal work to building a legal team. Kyle is also the co-creator of a comprehensive Business Health Analysis that diss...
The Sterling Lawyers origin story began on a whiteboard in the late fall of 2013, where Tony Karls and I sketched out the strategic blueprint of the law firm.Today, ten years later, we are revealing the essential components of that strategy. It's not surprising that almost nothing worked out like we planned, including our firm's mission.There are two things that have not changed:1 - Our core values2 - The primary elements of our strategic planEnjoy!-------------------------Follow me on:...
Katie VanDeusen co-leads a team of 25 family lawyers. She is a highly successful leader, especially when it comes to developing less-experienced attorneys.Katie has always been a top-performer at Sterling Lawyers. She has set more than a few performance records. In addition to her own prolific practice, she mentors other attorneys, some of which have surpassed her early performance.This episode peels back the layers of what it takes to challenge and support a team of high pe...
People are the most important success factor in every law firm. There are no exceptions to this rule. At Sterling Lawyers we take hiring (we call it "selection") very, very seriously. Over the past 10 years we have honed our selection process into a finely tuned machine. Robin Esch oversees the sourcing and selection of all our teammates. She is our Director of Team Growth (AKA, "Human Resources").In this episode, Robin unpacks our selection process and breaks it ...
Tom Lenfestey is the founder of The Law Practice Exchange. He's also a practicing North Carolina attorney, licensed CPA, and Accredited Business Intermediary.Tom is one of North America's most knowledgeable experts on selling a law firm. In this fascinating conversation we discussed:State of M&A in lawPeople law firms v. Business law firmsLaw firm ownership deregulationFamily law firm valuationsBest practices to maximize law firm value on an exitThe Law Practice ExchangeUsing t...
Attorney Patrick Slaughter is an attorney coach with substantial "Street Cred."He has built a very successful law firm and sold it. Now, he helps other lawyers do the same thing.His story is non-traditional to say the least. Patrick was a magician for 20 years before attending law school. Once out of law school, he hustled, networked, and worked incredibly hard to build his firm from the ground up.He succeeded wildly.If you want inspiration or firm growth ideas--or both, lis...
Business 101: If you are not measuring it, you are not managing it.This principle is true when it comes to a family law firm culture. My guest this week is Robin Esch, Sterling Lawyers' Director of Team Growth. We explore how we measure a critical aspect of our law firm -- our culture. -------------------------Follow me on: LinkedIn - YouTube - X - Instagram - TikTok I’m here to share my law firm’s secrets, tactics, and strategies of how we have grown from 0 to 25 attorneys an...
Attorney Jeff Morrell is a Senior Partner at our family law firm, Sterling Lawyers.Since joining our team, Jeff has been a pace-setter.This episode is a conversation between me and Jeff riffing on his productivity strategies.He shares a load of valuable insights on how to improve the efficiency of a family law practice.Enjoy!-------------------------Follow me on: LinkedIn - YouTube - X - Instagram - TikTok I’m here to share my law firm’s secrets, tactics, and strategies of how we have grown f...
Jon Morris is the founder of Rise Interactive, a wildly successful digital agency that he exited a few years ago. Since then, Jon has started two more highly successful service businesses: (1) EngineBi (www.enginebi.net) and (2) Fiscal Advocate (www.fiscaladvocate.com). Jon also sits on the Sterling Lawyers Board of Advisors.Over the years, Jon has discovered the ideal ratios for professional service firms to be healthy. Here they are:Gross Margin - 50% +Profit - 20%+S...
As I reflect on our first ten years of building and leading Sterling Law, there are 11 lessons that have surprised me.Here they are:1 - Being a leader is your identity2 - Building a law firm is a sprint and a marathon3 - Vulnerability is confidence in action4 - Discipline today avoids pain tomorrow5 - Leadership isn't winning your way. It’s clearing the way for teammates.6 - Hire to complement. Not get compliments7 - Indecision turns temporary pain chronic8 - Ten minutes with your...
Holly Mullin co-leads one of the largest family law teams in the United States. Her well-earned law leadership insights have come through years of trial and error.She has a reputation for professionalism and genuinely serving her teammates. Holly is well-respected by every member of the Sterling Law team.In this episode, we explore: 1 - Leading through growth and adversity2 - Nurturing family law talent3 - Importance of empathy over technical prowess4 - Balancing supporting a team...
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